An exercise in irrelevance.

Weeks of speculation in the press, assorted pundits spewing out miles of print, top civil servants locked up for weeks to preserve secrecy, and for what? For the annual exercise in moronic irrelevance called " The Budget ". Every year it is the same ritual. A list of goods and services on which taxes are being raised. Taxes are never lowered or rationalised, occasionally the basic income on which income tax becomes applicable maybe raised by a few measly thousands but even that fig leaf was dispensed with this year. The criminal extortion of the people goes by the name of " big bang reform "  and " reduction of subsidies ", cheered on by a freeloading press. We can nail one lie straight away - there is no subsidy on petrol and yet the price of petrol has been increased by Rs 1.40 today to around Rs 78 per liter. How do we know that there is no subsidy on petrol? Because petrol, or gas as it is known, is sold in the US at international prices with a tax of 12%. Even today the price is an average of $3.80 a gallon which works out to $1 or Rs 55 per liter. Tax on cigarettes has been increased by 18% but there is no attempt to cut the use of bidis or khaini which are responsible for the highest rate of oral cancer in the world.  While rich countries are trying to encourage increased use of bicycles to cut down on obesity and pollution excise duty on bicycles has been raised from 1 to 2%. This is a multiplier on the excise duty on raw materials at 12.36%. Anyone earning more than Rs 10 million a year will have to pay a surcharge of 10% on their tax. Rich people have not become rich by being stupid and paying their share of taxes. They will only send more money to foreign tax havens. Surcharge on domestic companies have been raised from 5 to 10% and on foreign companies from 2 to 5% on income of Rs 100 million. They will pass on the costs to consumers increasing the already soaring inflation. A 1% tax has been added on the sale of any property of over Rs 5 million. Registration charge and stamp duty vary from 6 to 12% across states which is one of the highest in the world and the reason for half the price being paid in black money. Even a tiny one bed-room flat in any major city costs more than Rs 10 million so we can expect a complete paralysis in sales of properties with resultant collapse of prices. By bringing down inflation that would be good in the long run but in the short term the recession will be brutal. Having made set top boxes mandatory customs duty has been increased from 5 to 10% and from 1 to 6% on mobile phones costing more than Rs 2000, which is almost all.  Our most revered Finance Minister said," I believe there is a little bit of Azim Premji in every affluent taxpayer." We are searching for a little bit of Gandhi in politicians. Walk instead of spending Rs 37 billion on luxury choppers. If only we could chop the lot!